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Mom's Birthday Celebration

My mom turned 60 yesterday! For at least two months she has been talking about how she wants a lobster dinner, so we figured that would be the perfect way to celebrate.

None of us are real seafood lovers. I think Mikey likes it because apparently he ordered lobster at the ripe old age of 12, but Matt's highly allergic to shellfish, and I just don't really like the smell or taste of it. But I was willing to sacrifice and attend dinner at a restaurant that smelled like the fish farm in Smithfield. Luckily I brought my camera to capture all the fun. (Actually, Matt took most of these photos.)

I felt like the biggest hypocrite for getting after Tanker for texting at the baseball game the other day. The only picture of me at dinner and guess what I'm doing...

If you go out to eat for your birthday, you have to pick a restaurant that embarrasses you. It adds to the fun. I hate to admit, though, that when they came out with this fish hat for my mom to wear, all I could think about is how many heads it's probably been on and I was glad it wasn't going on mine.

Matt, Claire, and Mikey practiced their fish faces while we waited for the check.

Then we retired to Matt and Izzy's for present opening and cake.

All this birthday celebrating reminded Claire of her birthday and how she went to Build-A-Bear and made her own pirate bear and they rang the bell and everyone sang Happy Birthday to her. She'll tell you all about it. And here is the only photo I've ever taken of Claire that isn't photogenic.

SLC Bees vs. Sacramento Rivercats

Tanker and I enjoyed a beautiful summer evening at Franklin Covey Field last night. The Bees played against the Sacramento Rivercats, which is kind of a strange mascot if you think about it. Apparently it was bring your family to the ballgame night because there were a lot of people. We even switched seating sections because too many people. We ended up at the very end of the stadium, separated from the crowd by a restricted section of seats. We still had a good view and we weren't pestered by all the people. Sadly, though, it did thwart our entertainment plans. We lugged my laptop to take advantage of the wifi and watch funny youtube videos and episodes of 30 Rock, but in our position at the end of the seating, we could barely get any signal. We had to settle for taking pictures.

Tanker got a new Bees cap.

He looked so awesome and badass that I wanted to get one, too, but then I remembered that I don't wear caps (I always feel like I can't see in them), so I settled for taking my picture in his.

I have to admit, I was surprised at how willing Tank was to take pictures. Usually he puts his hand in the way or some subtle form of sabotage, but last night he was all about the photos. I think it's because of facebook. We both needed new profile pictures.

It was so nice to just sit back and put our feet up. We didn't really watch the game. Once I commented that maybe we should pay closer attention, but Tanker rightly pointed out that we weren't there for the action, we were there for the atmosphere. And it was a good atmosphere. The sun was setting. People were happy. The refrain of "Sweet Home Alabama" kept coming on every time #13 would come up to bat. Every once in a while, a ball would hit over the fence and the kids on the grass would fight for it. That's what's happening here.

The Bees mascot, lets call him Buzzy, is really cute. I like his smile.

The game got even better as the night went on and here's why, stadium lighting. It so bright! And it was still nice and warm and summery. If only there had been fireflies and/or ice cream, it would've been the perfect summer night.

One thing did mar the evening... text messaging. I don't know why my friends always have to text message other people during sporting events, but apparently they do.

This is me, not approving.

Still, we had so much fun that we might even go to a baseball game in DC while we're ON VACATION. Who knew I'd get excited about sporting events?

My Blogging Is the Pitts Lately

I'm sorry. I haven't been keeping up. I've been lazing around, checking the Internet for apartments and job-hunting and cleaning and haven't been blogging. So now I get to play catch-up just a bit. And then I promise to try and be better in the future.

I spent my days last week helping my mom de-junk. Now I love my mom quite a lot, but she has a really hard time getting rid of things. Even the weekly ads pile up on the table and then when it comes time for Sunday dinner, all the papers on the table get dumped into a box and then taken into the office. It's a short term solution, but not a very effective one. Last week, she let me help out by going through boxes and throwing out a lot of papers. But my favorite of my mom's quirks is that I'll be going through a box like this:

And come across a book like this:

Or similarly entitled books, like How to Get Organized and Let Go of Clutter.

I've also been spending time babysitting Claire. She likes to play games on my computer.

And she apparently also practices for a future appearance on Fear Factor because she made me play a game where she closes her eyes and I place bugs all over her. Then she opens them and pretends to be scared. Repeat this about 10 times. The afternoons pass quickly this way.

Claire and Matt had a Pirates and Princesses party to celebrate their birthdays.

I also got to spend an afternoon with the Senator while Tanker was out of town.

Otherwise, life has been a succession of Costco trips, movies, and interviews. It's a good life. But this is my last week of freedom before I start my job. I'ma make it count by going to Montana with my little brother to visit my grandpa and pick up some stuff.

Gainfully Employed

As of this morning, I am now gainfully employed. I guess technically I'm not employed yet, but I was offered a job as a student adviser at Independence University, aka California College for Health Sciences in beautiful Murray, Utah. It's not the most glamorous job, I know. And I'll be honest, I'm a little bit settling, but something I'm excited for is that in a couple of months I can afford to get my own place. I've been scouring CraigsList since last January, looking at places and imagining myself there. Of course, the first thing I did once I got the offer (and figured out how much I would be making a month) was turn to CraigsList for the latest available apartments. Right now, I really want this awesome loft downtown, but only if it comes with all the furnishings, too. And if it's available in September, which is probably the earliest I could move in. And if it wasn't quite so expensive. Still... it's nice to dream. And isn't that what gainful employment is all about?

Adrian Tomine

I was pleasantly surprised to see Adrian Tomine on the cover of my new New Yorker that was supposed to arrive last week, but instead came today. To be quite honest, I didn't know who the artist was, but I recognized him from the cover of a little journal I picked up last Christmas. I'm not sure which JD Salinger book the girl is reading on this bus, but I'm going to say its Franny & Zooey.

I love that you can get this (and other New Yorker cartoons) made into personal notecards, although they're a little pricey at $40 to $50, but it could be worth it. You can also get it as a print for a whole lot more.

While I was searching for an image of the current New Yorker cover, I came across a past one, also by Adrian Tomine, that I really like, too.

What can I say, I'm a sucker for pictures of girls reading.

*I also posted this entry on Snapdragon because I couldn't decide which one it really belonged to.

Life Just Got Easier

Last night, Kylie and Jonathan introduced me to the best new Google feature, in my humble opinion. Google Reader allows you to feed all your blogs onto one space. Now instead of going through the huge bookmark folder of blogs I regularly stalk, I can just go to reader.google.com and they are all set up for me. I can tell which ones have new entries and which don't. I love Google.

Wizard People

A couple months ago, I was introduced to this clip on YouTube.

Needless to say, I wanted more. I've watched a few others generously uploaded to YouTube, but it just wasn't the same. I needed the full experience. So I downloaded the full narration and burned it to cd. Last night, I persuaded Tanker to watch it with me. He was skeptical. I mean, Wizard People? What kind of movie is that? An awesomely funny one.

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Claire Turns Four!

Claire's old enough to pick out her own clothes now. After a little accident at her birthday party, Claire had need of a new outfit. She picked out this one. Those shorts are her "cool shorts." She really is the coolest, with or without her cool shorts.

The Drive Back to Utah

It hardly seems less than a week ago that Mikey and I left Lafayette. We spent last Thursday putting all the last minute things together. With my car in the shop, Erica kindly acted as chauffeur and took me to the post office to mail off even more boxes (I went twice that day! Once in the morning and later that afternoon), to Good Will to drop off a car load of stuff I no longer found necessary, and to the recycling bins so I could get rid of my growing mound of Diet Pepsi cans. Seeing them all bundled up like that makes me realize that I need to drink more water. We also took Mikey on a quick tour of the campus and had dinner one last time at the Lafayette Brewing Company. If anyone knows where I can get cracked pepper fries in SLC, I am all ears. We met up briefly with Tom, Cassie, and Bousquet for drinks that night and then had homemade ice cream and brownies with Jenn and Kyle while watching Colbert. After very little sleep, we packed up the rest of the car, said a tearful good-bye to Erica, and headed West before the sun was over the horizon.

Illinois was foggy. We could hardly see ten feet ahead of us, which made it nearly impossible to pass the slow-moving trucks that inevitably pulled out in front of us. But when the fog abated and became a low mist hanging over the fields, it was absolutely beautiful.

I asked Mike the night before if he wanted to see Nauvoo since we were headed in that direction. It wasn't really on the way, but it wasn't out of the way, so we decided to stop. I was secretly hoping I could finally get that prairie diamond I have always wanted, but just as we headed north next to the Mississippi River towards Nauvoo, a rainstorm swept by. Everyone stayed huddled inside and we felt no inclination to get out and wander around while in Historic Nauvoo Village. We just drove through.

I caught a glimpse, though, of a sculpture garden at the visitor center, and I wanted to see more of it. Plus, bathroom break, so we went inside. It had stopped raining for the most part, but every once in a while as we wandered the garden, there would be a short little shower. I liked how the rain hung off the sculptures.

We parked at the temple and walked around a bit.

It was much better weather this visit. At least, much warmer and there were more flowers.

Sometimes I wonder what the people who live in towns like Nauvoo and Carthage think about all these Mormons trekking to visit them. Growing up I never thought of them as real towns that people might actually live in. We kept seeing signs all over Nauvoo for people to visit other historic churches. I kind of wish we had taken the time to do that, but we wanted to get back on the road.

We crossed the Mississippi River at Fort Madison, Iowa. Barges and boats were headed under the bridge, so we had to park for a while. This made me really happy because then we got to get out and walk around and take a good look at the Mississippi. When I passed over it on my way to Indiana, it went by too quickly, and there were side barricades that made it impossible to see the river.

I couldn't tell if Mike was bored or excited by the Mississippi. His facial expressions showed signs of both.

Iowa was my favorite part of the trip two years ago, and I still loved it on the way back. It was still storming, but Mike and I agreed that the rainfall and the cloud skies made it even better. We took a short detour to the Amana Colonies because I needed to pick up a little something. This also gave us the chance to get off the highway for a bit, though, and drive some of the backroads. We probably should've done more of that, but I was anxious to get home.

And then we changed the rolling hills of Iowa for the flat, but green, fields of Nebraska. It was still storming, but that just meant that I couldn't stop taking pictures of the sky. So much better than if it had been clear blue. How dull.

I imagined that we would stop for the night somewhere at the western end of Nebraska. But when we got to North Platte, it was only 8 o'clock. We were tired, but it felt too early to call it a night. Cheyenne was a little over three hours away, so we kept plugging. We got there around midnight MST (which meant it was 2 o'clock for me at least). We decided to try and get a room. Much easier said than done. The first three hotels we stopped at were booked. The clerk at the last one told us we'd have more luck in Laramie because she thought all the hotels in Cheyenne were pretty much filled up. Apparently it was a shriner's convention. Irritated and cranky (poor Mike), we went on to Laramie. Mikey was all set to just drive the whole night through, but I had my heart set on a good night's sleep. The first two hotels in Laramie were also full, but finally we came across one with one opening. The clerk apologetically told us it had two queens and was non-smoking, which was exactly what we wanted, but I think I pretty much would've taken anything. For the first time in my life, I'm pretty sure, I fell asleep instantly.

Since we were only five or so hours from Salt Lake, we got a later start in the morning and left town around 9:30. The bug-splattered windshield definitely looked worse in the daytime.

The landscape around Laramie was much greener and more beautiful than I remembered. I realized that I owed Brian Beglin an apology for calling Wyoming ugly. It really isn't that bad.

It's amazing to see how the landscape changes as we got closer to Utah.

And before we knew it, we were in Parley's Canyon and I just wanted to take tons of pictures, but I was driving. Mike tried to take some through the windshield, but reflections kept getting in the way. This is why I think we need to invent the car camera, a little device near your windshield (like on my macbook) that would allow you to take pictures of the scenery around you as you are driving. I think it'd be awesome.

So I'm back in Salt Lake, and it doesn't feel permanent, despite the daily delivery of boxes (which I can tell is wearing on our poor, grumpy, deaf mail carrier). Guess I should get a job to make reality sink in a little deeper.

Mikey Comes to Chicago

My little brother, Mikey, flew out to Chicago so he could drive back to Utah with me. I got to show him around. (Basically, I showed him all the same places I show everyone. I'm starting to not want to take pictures anymore... almost).

First, we stopped by Northwestern. It's my favorite place to see Lake Michigan because of the spraypainted rocks and the Chicago skyline on the other side. I just love climbing over the rocks and reading notes left for someone else.

Then we went some place new for me! Mike mentioned the Lincoln Park Zoo as a place to visit, so since it's free (other than parking), we went there.

Last summer, Mikey and I took our niece, Claire, to the zoo. It wasn't quite the same without her, but we still managed to have a good time. We saw lions, tigers, giraffes, gorillas, monkeys, and all sorts of other animals.

Sometimes, though, I wasn't sure if the animals were quite alive. I didn't see this leopard move once.

There's always that sense of guilt at zoos. Some people assuage it by bringing in books for the animals.

I was hoping to assuage mine by paddling over the lake in a gigantic swan.

But Mike wasn't interested, so we left. We parked the car in a garage under construction near the Art Institute. Driving in a cramped garage with jackhammers pounding and dust flying is not the best thing, especially when you're already worried about your flashing check engine light that you keep hoping will stay off. But we found a convenient spot and walked toward Milennium Park. I showed Mikey the spitting fountains and of course we took our picture at the bean, which really needs a good wash with some Windex right about now.

And I took some pictures of lovely Chicago, feeling sentimental and sad that I won't be able to just drive up there again any time soon.

After introducing Mike to Giordano's famous Chicago deep dish, we walked off the block of cheese we just ate by visiting the Sears Tower. Last time I went it was at night and Chicago was unfamiliar to me. This time, I got to see all the buildings and point out the few that I knew. I tried to time it just right so we'd be there at sunset and twilight. We were just a tad early, but it was still lovely.

Safe and Sound

Mike and I made it back to Utah safe and sound on Saturday afternoon. We made record time. I have pictures from the trip, but I've been busy carving out a space to live, visiting friends, and celebrating Claire's fourth birthday. I'll post pics soon.

Moving Back

Well, everything's all packed up. I've shipped off no less than 20 boxes of ... I don't even know anymore, but I hope it all gets there. I had a minor heart attack yesterday when I picked Mike up from the airport in Chicago and on our way into the city, the check engine light came on. AND KEPT FLASHING! I took it into the shop and several hours (and many dollars) later, it's fixed and should keep together long enough to get back to Salt Lake at least.

Tonight I have to sleep on a plastic mattress (provided by Willowbrook West) because all my sheets have gone to Good Will, but tomorrow I hit the open road. I just can't wait!